The Encounter

In August 2023, at Orio al Serio airport, I noticed a van with “Meli Stucchi” written on its side. I approached with a business card, expecting a professional connection. That simple introduction became the beginning of a three-year journey, a friendship, and a book.

During a later visit to Eduard Meli’s workshop in Lodi, I began interviewing him to understand his business. But the conversation soon moved beyond work. He told me about growing up in Albania under the communist regime, crossing the sea, starting again in Italy, and slowly building a life and a company.

From a Joke to a Book

When Eduard suggested, almost jokingly, that his story could become a book, I accepted the challenge.

Over the following three years, I listened to Eduard, his brother, his daughters, and others who had shared parts of his journey. Through interviews, historical research, writing, and repeated revisions, I worked to bring those memories into a coherent narrative while preserving the person behind them.

The Journey & Personal Meaning

The book follows his path from Elbasan to Italy, through uncertainty, family ties, demanding work, and the determination to begin again.

Creating it also became part of my own story: an experience that changed how I listen and deepened my understanding of a man I had first known only through the name on his van.

What began with a business card grew into a lasting collaboration—and a story we spent three years bringing to the page.